Author: Rhys Gregory

Business rates in Wales will not be subject to an inflationary increase in 2021-22 Finance Minister Rebecca Evans has confirmed today. Freezing the multiplier next year will help support around 54,000 ratepayers across Wales, who are not already receiving 100% rates relief. This takes the total amount of savings businesses have received on their rates bills to more than £90m, since 2018-19. Earlier this year the Welsh Government also announced a rates relief package worth £580 million to provide businesses with the support they needed to survive the pandemic. Finance Minister Rebecca Evans said: “We recognise the pressures that businesses…

The Welsh Government’s new Export Action Plan will provide the most ambitious and comprehensive programme of export support put in place in Wales. Welsh goods and services have long been exported worldwide, helping Wales become a strong and successful trading nation. Between 2015 and 2019, the value of Welsh goods exports grew at a faster rate than the UK as a whole and, in 2019, reached £17.8bn. However, the prolonged negotiations of the future relationship between the UK and EU has stifled businesses’ ability to fully plan and prepare. Economy Minister Ken Skates has said this has placed incredible pressures…

If you are planning to move to a different country, spending a large amount of time and effort to research and find a new home is essential. During their travels, many Brits get tempted to buy homes in tourist hotspots that they fall in love with. The exchange rates can make foreign real estate extremely tempting. Whatever reason you have for buying a house abroad, there is a lot of research that needs to be done, and information you need to know, to make the right decisions. To help reduce the risk of poor property investment choices and legal pitfalls,…

Work is taking place to increase biodiversity at the sand dunes near Swansea Marina and to prevent non-native species from damaging the habitat. Swansea Council manages the dunes and has been working with expert botany consultants to increase native sand dune plant species benefitting wildlife at the site. But a number of non-native species including Italian Alder and Japanese Rose have taken root. These are being removed by the council’s Nature Conservation Team to protect the dunes by stopping them establishing themselves and spreading. Much of this work is funded through Welsh Government grants for biodiversity recovery and follows detailed…

SWANSEA Council is to consult residents and businesses on plans to introduce new powers to tackle anti-social behaviour in some areas of our city. If approved it would mean trained council officers and police would be able to confiscate alcohol in the street and have additional powers to tackle issues such as drug-taking and drunkenness in the city centre, the Marina and parts of Morriston. Known as Public Space Protection Orders, or PSPOs, they can be introduced in areas where anti-social behaviour needs to be brought under further control. A six-week consultation on applying them to the city centre, including the…

A Pontardawe pub, where a party appeared to be going on with no social distancing on the day Welsh Government rules were brought in restricting alcohol sales and shutting pubs early, has been fined. Following a joint inspection between Neath Port Talbot Council’s Licensing section and South Wales Police on December 4th , 2020, a fixed penalty notice was served on the Castle, Pontardawe. The notice was served using powers under the Welsh Government’s Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Wales) (No 4) Regulations 2020. A Fixed Penalty Notice – including a fine of £1,000 – was issued to the premises licence…

Two Merthyr Tydfil pubs have been closed down for two weeks for breaching coronavirus restrictions by allowing customers to ‘congregate at the bar’ and ‘generally behave as if there were no restrictions in place’. Cwm Taf Joint Enforcement Team officers who attended the Wyndham Arms in Glebeland Street and Park View Inn on Brecon Road ‘could not believe the lack of control, the low staffing levels and the complete lack of awareness of both staff and customers at the premises’. The Joint Enforcement Team comprises officers from the County Borough Council, South Wales Police and Covid Enforcement Officers. The pubs…

Cardiff-based video marketing agency, Aura Ads, launched in April 2020 and has increased their revenue by 375%, as well as taken on some new key clients. Some of these clients include Huel, Pact Coffee, Abbot Lyon and Freddie’s Flowers. Due to the numerous clients, growth plans and future expansion, Aura Ads will also be on the lookout for new members of the team at the start of the new year. There are currently four employees on the Aura Ads team. As the business has operated globally, including clients in Boston, Amsterdam, Germany, Canada and Australia, they will be expanding more…

Wales has taken the landmark decision to lift restrictions on LGBT+ people donating blood. As part of a four-nations agreement, Health Minister Vaughan Gething, has today announced the ending of restrictions, set by SABTO (The UK Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs) which has seen many LGBT+ people unable to donate blood. The change will come into effect in summer 2021. The Welsh Blood Service (WBS) will prepare for the lifting of restrictions and make changes to some of the questions blood donors are asked in order to move away from blanket restrictions and to a…

Swansea Council’s cabinet is set to approve an investment of almost £3m to improve the city centre’s Wind Street. The cabinet is due to meet on December 17 to discuss the plan to make the venue more accessible to pedestrians and more attractive to businesses wishing to trade outdoors. The aim is for Wind Street to be a family-friendly all-day café quarter with traffic restricted to business loading only from 7-11am. Emergency vehicles will have access at all times but the street will be largely free of vehicles during the daytime and evening trading periods. Work, to be carried out…